LAKE CHAMPLAIN -- Organizers of a massive two-day party for the long-planned Oct. 9 opening of the new Lake Champlain Bridge have pulled the plug, saying the state refused to confirm the bridge will be ready.

"If you were planning a party, and the guest of honor could not confirm they were coming, could you go ahead?" Hennessy asked Thursday. "DOT won't answer our questions, and we cannot move forward on that."

The DOT press office was unable to tell a reporter whether the Oct. 9 opening date was still on schedule, but state Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward, R-Willsboro, said she "would not count on that date being met ... but I can say that I believe the bridge will open this year, not next year."

Hennessy and the coalition deserve "a ton of credit for making people aware of what is actually going on," Sayward said.

Later, DOT spokesman Bill Reynolds said, "This project's completion has always been weather dependent. That being said, we are close to finalizing when we expect the bridge to open." He said record high water on the lake this spring and summer caused some of the delays.

Hennessy said her group became especially concerned in mid-July, when the Oct. 9 date for the bridge opening, which had been on DOT's website since the start of the $70 million project in June 2010, suddenly vanished.

Repeated efforts by the coalition to get DOT to confirm the date were unsuccessful, Hennessy said. As the deadline loomed, the coalition sent DOT a letter Aug. 5, asking for an answer by Aug. 12. No answer was forthcoming.

There were contracts to be signed, travel plans to be made, and permits to be applied for to hold an array of events that included fireworks, musical concerts, high school marching bands, a parade with town-themed floats, a 5K race, a flotilla of river vessels, and even the appearance of 35 current and former area residents who were present when the former Champlain Bridge opened to great fanfare in 1929.

All that is now being rescheduled for May 19-20. The budget for the celebration was $55,000, and "we may have lost a few grants now, but we will make it work," Hennessy said.

In February, DOT announced its construction schedule was being "adjusted" by 65 days because of delays caused by underwater obstructions in the lake, according to news releases on the website.

It was not immediately clear how a potential delay in the bridge opening might trigger a $30,000-a-day penalty provision under the state's contract with the bridge building firm, Colorado-based Flatiron Constructors Inc.

Flatiron's contract has an incentive clause paying $30,000 for every day the company shaves off the schedule. Reynolds could not say whether the deadline for penalty provisions to kick in has been extended.

The former bridge was demolished as unsafe in 2009 after it was found to be in danger of imminent collapse. DOT was criticized by some residents of the area for allowing the bridge to fall into disrepair and being caught flat-footed when its condition became known.

The emergency closure of the old bridge separated people on either side of the lake, many of whom have friends, families or jobs on the opposite side. About 4,000 cars a day used the bridge, and the state rushed to set up free ferry service at the Crown Point state campground and pushed for an aggressive construction schedule on the replacement bridge.